iPhone data recovery service – DriveSavers

DriveSavers is possibly the best-known name in the personal computer data recovery business. The firm recently announced that it now provides data recovery for damaged Apple iPhones.

Being both a happy iPhone owner, and a curious Mymac.com reviewer, I wanted to learn more. Why would anyone need data recovery, when the iPhone syncs each time you dock it with your Mac?

So, I contacted DriveSavers, and had a 30 minute Q and A session with DriveSavers senior data recovery engineer and occasional PR spokesman John Christopher. Here’s a recap of our phone call.

Question: Given that the iPhone syncs and backs up its data with your Macintosh each time the iPhone is docked, why does DriveSavers feel there is a market for an iPhone data recovery service?

Answer: It’s quite true that the iPhone data is backed up each time it sees the host computer, be it a Mac or a Windows machine. Of course, you have to set your iTunes preferences to sync the desired data. Since the iPhone is such a capable device, more people are leaving their laptop at home while on the road. But these people can go days and days without syncing with their big machine, and more and more valuable data can be entered each day. For example, while on a business trip, you enter new contacts, new calendar data, and take several important photos, all with your iPhone.

All it takes is one accident, and that new data could be gone.

Question: The iPhone uses solid-state memory chips, not a typical hard disk. Does this make any difference to the data recovery process?

Answer: We wrote a special data recovery application just for iPhone data recovery, as hard-disk techniques don’t always carry over. We believe that DriveSavers is the only company capable of recovering data from hardware-damaged iPhones

Question: So, my iPhone was just flattened by a D9 Caterpillar tractor, and it’s out of commission. I’ve heard about DriveSavers. What comes next?

Answer: Call DriveSavers at 800-440-1904 to start the process. Once you describe what’s happened, we can give you an initial estimate. If you’re OK with the estimate, you ship us the unit. We need it for 5-7 business days. Final costs vary, but plan on at least $500-1400, depending on the amount of data recovered. Final charges are performance-based as a result of difficulty, time and success retrieving the needed data. There is a $100 attempt fee charged only if we’re unsuccessful.

Answer: No, our service is not inexpensive, but the data recovery process is both skill and time intensive. If you need important, irreplaceable data back, we feel DriveSavers is the best option.

Question: Lastly , do you have any good “damaged iPhone” stories you can share?

Answer: The most recent one we worked on was an iPhone that had been deliberately dropped down a New York City apartment building’s garbage chute. Let me simply say that it was NOT the owner who hurled it down the chute…

It fell 26 stories! We got all the data off the phone. Here’s a photo: